a/n: Okay, I feel much better now that the story seems complete :) Thank you all for the kind words for this one even though it's not really Delena. Hopefully you guys enjoy the second part as much as the first :)

TWO

They continued to stare at each other, unsure of what to say. The only thing that they were sure of was that they had to say something. Damon raked a hand through his hair, trying to get a grasp on the situation. The way Elena was looking at him made him very uncomfortable. She was aware of what had happened and instead of hatred and anger in her eyes, there was hope. It was too much to take.

"Damon-"

"No." He stepped back and shook his head. His eyes darted around the room, unable to look at her.

"I thought you locked her in the tomb?"

Damon snorted. "I thought we did too."

"Then how-"

"Lucy came back for her," he replied, practically snapping at her.

Silence fell between them and Damon felt a little better. Until Elena started speaking again. "Were you really pretending she was me?"

Her voice was so soft yet the question so bold that Damon finally looked at her. Instantly, he regretted doing so. A grin at the irony of the situation took hold of his lips and he shook his head in disbelief, watching as disappointment clouded those gorgeous brown eyes. "No," he replied. "No, I wasn't thinking about you." For once, he wasn't lying to her or to himself.

Her eyes began to well up with tears as they continued to stare at each other. Before either of them could speak, Stefan appeared in the hallway looking scared and relieved at the same time. "How the hell did Katherine get out? Did she do anything?" he asked, looking back and forth between the two. He studied Elena more closely and went to wrap his arms around her. "Are you okay?"

Instead of answering him, Elena pulled out of his grasp and backed away from him. "I'm going home."

"Elena-"

"Don't!" she snapped when he reached out for her. "Sorry," she muttered.

"I'll come with you."

"No, I want to be alone. Please, just let me be," she said, staring at him.

"Elena, she might-" Damon started.

"She already did enough damage," Elena said, her voice crackling with unshed tears. "Excuse me," she added before going back to Stefan's room to find her keys.

Stefan watched her run down the stairs and heard her slam the front door behind her. Then he turned on Damon. "What the hell happened and don't tell me nothing!"

"You had just left and Katherine showed up. Apparently, Lucy came back for her and set her free."

"That didn't answer my question."

"Nothing happened Stefan. She just riled Elena up a bit."

"Is that why I can smell her all over you?"

"She didn't hurt Elena. That's all you need to know."

Stefan shook his head. He wanted to believe Damon, but at the same time, he couldn't. "I'm going to Elena's."

Damon grabbed his bicep and shook is head. "No you're not. You heard her, she wants to be alone. There are other people that we need to find. Since we both know you can't handle Katherine, I'll go after her. You get the witch, I'll get the bitch." With that, Damon took off before Stefan could ask him anything else.

Elena was glad that everyone was asleep or at least not walking around the house at this hour. She didn't want anyone to stop her and ask her what was wrong. Instead, she just continued up to her room as quickly and as silently as she could. When she got there, Caroline was pacing in front of the window. "There you are. What the hell happened?" the blonde asked, keeping her voice relatively low. "You sounded like a mess on the voicemail and I have to tell you, you don't look much better now."

Elena nodded and sat down on her bed. "I don't even know where to begin."

Caroline was nervous, watching her friend fall apart. It wasn't like Elena to get worked up like this so something really bad must have happened. "Just blurt it out if."

"Katherine."

"What about her?" Now Caroline was confused.

"Lucy went back for her because she was at the boarding house tonight."

Fear flashed in the blonde's eyes. "What?"

"And the spell that connected us together was still active."

"Oh god! What did she do?" She was immediately checking Elena out for any sign of injury.

"She didn't hurt me," Elena answered and shook her head. "At least not physically."

"Okay, now I'm confused."

"Me too," Elena muttered and sighed. "She went to Damon. He had just come to tell me that he was there if I needed him while Stefan went out to hunt. I went to take a shower after that; get rid of the blood and all. Right as I started the shower I felt it."

"Felt what?"

"Them." No matter how she described it, Caroline was going to think she was crazy and she didn't blame her friend one bit. "I could feel his hands on me and I could feel my hands on him. Only, it was her."

"You're not making any sense."

"Katherine had that spell where we were connected. So while I was in the shower, she was sleeping with Damon and I felt every second of it."

Caroline's eyes widened like a cartoon character's. "Oh god."

"Exactly."

"So..."

"When it stopped I got the hell out of that shower and went to confront him, but she was in the hallway too. She said that he pretended she was me, but when I asked him about it he said he was thinking of her."

Caroline's eyes narrowed as she studied her friend, trying to keep up with that sentence and find the source of Elena's disappointment. "Now I'm confused again. Isn't a good thing that he was thinking of her?" Elena was silent as her gaze met Caroline's and allowed her to see the truth that even Elena was too scared to admit to herself. "Oh."

They were both silent for a moment, letting it all sink in. Elena was the one to break the silence, knowing that Caroline was waiting for a further explanation. "I should be angry at them for violating me. Or at least that's how I should view what happened, but I can't. I can't hide my feelings for him any more."

"Woah, what feelings?"

"He's never been just a friend, Care. There's always been something between us and until now I've always looked the other way. I have to come clean about what happened to Stefan and I-"

"Elena, you didn't do anything. You don't have to feel guilty."

Elena shook her head and got up to pace the length of her bed. "Instead of feeling violated I feel angry that I wasn't there. I feel angry that the first time I was with Damon, it was through her. Don't you understand?"

"No. Not really."

"Ever since Damon told me he kissed her on my front porch thinking it was me, I haven't been able to stop thinking about what it would be like to kiss him. I mean really kiss him, not like that night he came here and-"

"What?" The harshness of Caroline's voice and anger in her eyes reminded Elena that she hadn't told her about that night.

"Never mind, it's not important," Elena said, waving her off. She stopped pacing and turned to Caroline, letting her see the tears welling up in her eyes. "What's important is that Katherine opened my eyes."

"Elena-"

Elena ignored her friend as she picked up her phone and sent a message to Damon, asking him to come and see her tonight. She had already made up her mind that when he showed up she would confess her feelings to him. If he didn't show up, she would go back to ignoring him and let those feelings fade to the back of her mind.

Stefan had no idea where to find the witch, but he thought he would start at the tomb and see if he could pick up a trail from there. As luck would have it, Lucy was at the tomb. In fact, she was sitting against the entrance nursing what looked like a broken leg. The scent of her blood sent a chill down Stefan's spine as he made his presence known. She tensed immediately and then flinched from the pain that action brought her. He raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Well I know you're not here to help me," she bit out.

"That depends on the information I get out of you."

They stared at each other, sizing one another up. Slowly, she nodded. "Fine, I'll tell you everything."

"Thank you," he said and moved to kneel by her side. He brought his wrist to his mouth and bit down before offering the blood to her.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you."

"If you heal me, what incentive do I have to tell you anything?"

"I don't smell any vervain so I can compel you. But I know I won't have to because Bonnie is a friend of mine. You're her family and I am not going to hurt you because I do not want to be on her bad side. Besides, you helped us once."

"And look where it got me."

Stefan shrugged. "Alright, I'll let you suffer while you tell me first then."

"No, I'll still tell you," she said quickly.

He nodded and further extended his wrist, letting her take as much as she needed to completely heal. When she was done, he pulled his wrist away and sat back, waiting for her to get herself together. "Whenever you're ready."

She nodded and spoke while she could still feel herself getting better. "Before the masquerade, Katherine compelled me. She said that if anything went wrong I was to find her, starting with the tomb. When I got here, she compelled me to set her free." Lucy shifted and took a deep breath. "When I did, she attacked me. She said if I ever betrayed her like that again she wouldn't hesitate to kill me."

"Do you think she'll track you down again?"

"Of course she will. She always gets what she wants."

Stefan snorted; he couldn't agree any more. "Where are you going to go?"

"You're really going to let me go?" Lucy asked, staring at him with surprise.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know."

"I'm not like most vampires. I still have my humanity. I just want you to be safe and if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

Lucy swallowed hard around her tight throat. "Thank you."

Stefan nodded and helped her up. "With any luck, Klaus will kill her before she ever has the chance to hurt you again."

She laughed slightly and took a few steps towards the exit. "Thank you again Stefan."

"No. Thank you," he replied and watched her run away. Now that that was taken care of, it was time to find out what exactly had happened before he had returned to the boarding house. With that, he left the tomb.

Damon had tracked Katherine to the ruins of the old Salvatore mansion. There, she was leaning against one of the remaining pillars with a grin on her face. "That didn't take you very long."

"What game are you playing, Katherine? What point are you trying to prove?"

She shook her head. "I already told you, Damon."

"You honestly expect me to believe that you're here for Stefan? You do realize he doesn't give a damn about you, right?"

The smirk disappeared from her face. "I was under the impression that you didn't either, yet, here you are."

Damon inclined his head and moved closer to her, grinning at the way her eyes tracked his every move, waiting for him to do something drastic. "I'm doing what you told me to do. I'm taking what I want; consequences be damned."

"I was talking about Elena."

"Were you?" he challenged, reveling at how flustered she was. She would never admit it, but he could see that she was.

"You're in love with her."

"And you're in love with Stefan, but let's face it Kat, we're never going to be good enough for either of them. No matter what we do, we're never going to be able to change that. They're always going to demand more of us, that we be good, but that's not who we are."

Katherine simply stared at him with an unreadable mask on her face. Only, Damon knew that expression to mean his words struck a nerve.

"We're wrong for them. So completely wrong that if we ever did get a shot, it would blow up in our faces and you know it. The only thing we deserve is each other. You were right; we are good together."

"Of course I was right," she replied, giving him a light smirk.

Damon grinned and took a few steps closer. Now he was within easy reach of her and he saw the way her body tensed even if it was slight. "I wanted to pretend that you were Elena, I really did. It was the whole reason I agreed in the first place."

"But?" she asked, a teasing smile on her lips. "But, somewhere along the way I forgot about her and ended up only thinking about you. I fought like hell for you because we fit together. I didn't have to be perfect around you and I didn't expect you to be either. Elena knows I'm a vampire and yet she refuses to accept that part of me. Stefan won't even admit what he is to himself so why would you settle for that?"

"What are you getting at?" Katherine asked, shifting her weight.

Instead of answering her, he closed the gap between them, cupped her face, and brought his lips down to hers. He kissed her passionately, taking his time. Katherine's hands went to his sides, pulling her closer to him. She closed her eyes and let him take charge for a bit. She had always liked it when he did. He was the only person she had been vulnerable around; whether he knew that or not, she wasn't sure.

Damon broke the kiss by removing himself completely and taking a few steps back. Katherine could see it in his face; something had changed and now he was furious. "I hate that you lied to me; that you made me think that you were in the tomb. I hate that you destroyed my relationship with my brother. I hate that you're toying with Elena and her loved ones. I really hate that we're all in this mess because of you." He shook his head. "And yet, despite all that hatred, I still love you. You're still that woman who changed my world. You showed me that there was more to life. Hell, I even died for you."

"So what do you want from me Damon?"

"An apology, for starters."

"And after that?"

"You tell me."

He stared at her for a long moment before saying what she already knew was coming. "I want to be with you Katherine. It's what I've wanted all along. Once Klaus is defeated and everyone is safe, I want to be with you."

Katherine gave him a sad smile. "Damon, I loved you in my own way; I did. I'm sorry that I destroyed your relationship with Stefan, but we can't be together. If I wanted to be with you, don't you think I would have come back for you a long time ago?"

"You're here now."

She shook her head. "The fact that you said you want to wait until everyone is safe shows me that we aren't truly meant to be. I don't give a shit about anyone else's life except for mine. The sacrifice is what Elena was born for. She two choices; either die as her birthright demands or become a vampire to save herself."

"Katherine-"

"No," she interrupted, backing away from his advances. "You can lie to the others about how badass and uncaring you are, but I know you, Damon. You're emotions are never turned off. Even though you claim that we're both equally undeserving, it's not true. I am. I don't deserve anything. Not even you. But you... You deserve so much more. You just don't have the confidence or the belief in yourself."

"I don't-"

"You do deserve Elena and I think she knows that. She's just scared that you'll hurt her whereas Stefan is the safe choice." Katherine moved to stand in front of him and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him briefly. "He might be the safe choice, but you're the right choice. Remember that."

And then she was gone.

Damon stood there, staring at the spot where she had just been. That was the most human conversation that had ever had. Even when he was human she spent most of her time compelling him, but not once did she compel his love for her. He shook his head, trying to shake the memories away so that he could process everything that she had said. He wanted desperately to believe that he was the right choice for Elena, but he knew it was all too much to ask for. Then he remembered the look in her eyes after Katherine had left the boarding house and it had him questioning everything all over again.

As he began to leave, he felt his phone go off. He pulled it out to read a message from Elena, asking him to come over because she needed to tell him something. He contemplated the idea for what seemed like a long time and in the end, he knew his decision was for the best.

Elena paced her room nervously. She hadn't gotten a reply from Damon and it was driving her crazy. She was beyond exhausted, both mentally and physically, yet she was too wired to go to sleep. Needing to move around in new scenery, she headed downstairs to get a glass of water. She took her time drinking it in the kitchen, leaning against the sink so that she could stare out into the backyard. She wasn't looking for anything in particular, just staring out at the darkness to clear her mind. When she was finished, she set the glass in the sink and headed back upstairs.

As she got to her room, she heard the window being opened and her heart leapt into her throat. She could hear it pounding in her ears as excitement coursed through her veins. Slowly, she pushed the door open and immediately the hope drained out of her, leaving her with a bitter disappointment. It was Stefan coming into her room.

He turned after shutting the window and gave her a guilty smile. "Look, I know you said you didn't want anyone around you, but I just needed to see you. I needed to see that you were alright."

Elena nodded slightly. "I'm fine."

"What happened earlier?"

She gave a light laugh and shook her head. Slowly, she shut the door behind her and moved to sit on the bed. "Nothing. Katherine just came in and started saying things. It's been such an exhausting day and I let it get to me." She shook her head again and smiled, tears gathering in her eyes. "I shouldn't have let it get to me. I won't ever let it get to me again."

"Okay." Stefan stood there for a long, awkward moment, unsure of whether or not she wanted him to go.

"I need to get to sleep. This day just needs to be over with."

"That sounds like a good idea."

"Will you stay with me?" she asked, finally looking up at him.

A grin broke out on his face as he nodded. "Of course," he said before removing his shoes to climb into bed with her.

Elena laid there, in his arms, for the longest time. Her eyes were glued to the clock, watching as minutes ticked by. After almost two hours had past, she finally shut her eyes and wiped away the few tears that managed to escape. Damon wasn't coming. Whatever feelings she realized she might have had; whatever feelings she thought he had for her, didn't matter anymore. In that moment, she made up her mind that those feelings would be buried deep down, never to be brought up again.

With that, she turned to lay her head on Stefan's chest and let her eyes close, finally allowing herself to drift off to sleep.